Art of Supply

"With tariffs in the news again and the trade policy environment shifting, folks are back to wanting to relearn about the [foreign-trade zone] program." 
Foreign-trade zones (FTZs) allow companies to bring goods into secure U.S. locations without immediately entering U.S. commerce for customs purposes. They allow businesses to defer duties, taxes, and fees until goods officially enter the market, or avoid them altogether if those goods are ultimately exported. 
FTZs are often used by manufacturers to store inventory or assemble kits, but given the current level of trade uncertainty, they have also become a way to address the unpredictability of tariffs.
Melissa Irmen is the Director of Advocacy and Strategic Relations for the National Association of Foreign-trade Zones (NAFTZ), and she joins this episode to share practical advice about what FTZs are, how they work, and why they are drawing renewed attention in today's tariff-heavy trade environment.
In this episode of the Art of Supply podcast, Melissa and Kelly Barner discuss:
Which companies tend to benefit most from FTZ participation, including manufacturers, distributors, retailers, electronics companies, pharmaceutical firms, and industrial businesses 
How FTZs offer flexibility during periods of trade disruption, helping importers pause, store, stage, or re-strategize inventory while tariffs and policy conditions shift
How the FTZ program has evolved, including a streamlined application process, ongoing regulatory modernization efforts, and current advocacy priorities related to Congress, Customs and Border Protection, and USMCA
This episode makes a compelling case for taking a first (or another) look at foreign-trade zones.
Links:
Melissa Irmen on LinkedIn
National Association of Foreign-trade Zones
Kelly Barner on LinkedIn
Art of Supply LinkedIn newsletter 
Art of Supply on AOP

Coffee is one of those products people think of as routine, almost automatic. It is part of the morning, part of the commute, part of the office, part of the café economy. So when something changes in the coffee supply chain, people feel it.
In late 2025, coffee prices started rising thanks to a combination of forces: weather shocks in major producing countries, tariff policy changes that altered landed cost, shrinking exchange inventories, currency volatility, and the lag effect that happens when sourcing decisions do not hit the consumer shelf for months. 
What makes coffee especially revealing is that this is not just a story about one bad harvest or policy move. It is a story about how a globally traded commodity reacts when short-term disruption and long-term structural risk overlap.
In this episode of the Art of Supply podcast, Kelly Barner covers: 
How weather in Brazil, Vietnam, and Indonesia tightened supply and pushed coffee futures higher
Why tariffs mattered even in a market where climate and crop conditions were already under strain
How those upstream shocks moved through inventories, contracts, roasters, and retail pricing, but with a delay
What this example reveals about uncertainty, substitution, margin pressure, and strategic repositioning
 
Links:
Kelly Barner on LinkedIn
Art of Supply LinkedIn newsletter 
Art of Supply on AOP
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The ports of Balboa and Cristóbal bookend the Panama canal. They don't control the canal, and they have been privately operated by CK Hutchison's Panama Ports Company for decades. 
Those old contracts are now in the middle of a legal fight, a sovereignty debate, and a live test of how far national power competitions can reach into commercial infrastructure.
Panama's Supreme Court recently ruled that the legal terms underlying CK Hutchison's port concession were unconstitutional. The concessions have been canceled and Panama has selected two different operators to take over responsibility for the ports while new owners are determined.
If that wasn't complicated enough, Hong Kong-based CK Hutchinson intended to sell the ports to U.S.-headquartered BlackRock, a move that China was not too happy about. 
The ports are now in the middle of a high stakes proxy war, with China and CK Hutchison on one side, and BlackRock and the Trump Administration on the other.
In this episode of the Art of Supply podcast, Kelly Barner covers the short and long term implications of uncertain Panama Canal port ownership:
Panama's disputed Supreme Court ruling 

Why the original $23 billion BlackRock-MSC transaction now looks much more complicated than a straightforward ownership transfer.

How BlackRock, Maersk, MSC, and other bidders are repositioning around the two terminals.

What to watch for when a local concession dispute becomes a multi-jurisdiction legal and geopolitical risk event

Links:
Who owns the Panama Canal?
Kelly Barner on LinkedIn
Art of Supply LinkedIn newsletter 
Art of Supply on AOP
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At its peak, iRobot generated nearly $1.6 Billion in annual revenue, and by 2022 Amazon believed the company was worth $1.7 Billion. By just a few years later, the company that pioneered consumer robotics would file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
The company that ultimately took ownership of iRobot wasn't Amazon or another Silicon Valley tech firm or even a U.S. competitor. It was the company's own overseas contract manufacturer.
How does a company go from being a pioneering leader in robotics to being owned by the very supplier that once built its products?
The answer is a story about regulation, supply chains, debt, competition, and unintended consequences.
In this episode of the Art of Supply podcast, Kelly Barner covers:
The rise of iRobot and the creation of the Roomba line of vacuums
Amazon's $1.7 Billion acquisition attempt — and why global regulators blocked it
How financial pressure, debt, and supply chain decisions reshaped the company, right into the ground
And how iRobot ultimately ended up owned by its largest manufacturing partner
Links:
Kelly Barner on LinkedIn
Art of Supply LinkedIn newsletter 
Art of Supply on AOP
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"There are a lot of different ways to hold all of the conspirators who are involved in the effort to intentionally smuggle counterfeit goods into the U.S. and into U.S. systems accountable." 
Most modern supply chains are complex, sprawling beasts. Their global scale is highly strategic, but it also creates opportunities for criminal organizations to threaten companies, the Federal government, warfighters, and first responders. 
The Government Supply Chain Investigations Unit (GSCIU) was created as the result of a 2022 Congressional request for Homeland Security Investigations to address concerns about the risk of counterfeit components finding their way into U.S. military supply chains. Since then, they have operated as a task force, analyzing interagency information to identify and combat threats to relevant supply chains.
Brian Andersen is a supervisory special agent at Homeland Security Investigations Global Trade Division, part of the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center, and the Government Supply Chain Investigations Unit, which he had the opportunity to help build from the ground up.
In this episode of the Art of Supply podcast, Brian and Kelly Barner discuss:
The priorities of the Government Supply Chain Investigations Unit
How they partner with other agencies and private businesses to root out risk within the supply chain and hold criminals accountable
What procurement and supply chain professionals should be on the lookout for as warning signs that they have acquired or encountered counterfeit products 
Links:
Brian Andersen on LinkedIn
National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center
Kelly Barner on LinkedIn
Art of Supply LinkedIn newsletter 
Art of Supply on AOP
Subscribe to This Week in Procurement